CROOKSTON GIRL’S BASKETBALL HAVE FOUR STARTERS FOUL OUT IN AN OVERTIME LOSS AT BGMR

The Crookston Girl’s Basketball team gave up a 10 point lead in the second half and had four starters foul out in the last three and a half minutes of regulation and 20 seconds into overtime as the Badger-Greenbush-Middle River Gators rallied for a 55-51 win at the Swamp at the Greenbush High School.

The game started out with the basket closed at both ends and a stymied style of defense shown by both teams. The type of defense each showed was not a surprise, but the shooting woes for both teams was a surprise! Five and a half minutes into the game, Crookston’s Hayden Winjum made one of two free throws to make it a 3-2 lead for the Pirates. On the next Pirate possession, Emma Osborn drained a three-point shot, one of only three made the Crookston in the game, and the Pirates were up 6-2. The Gators would come right back with two quick baskets to tie it and then it was back and forth and Crookston started showing some separation with nine minutes to go in the half with Hayden Winjum and Ally Perreault doing damage. Winjum made two free throws, had a nice driving basket and stole an in-bounds pass by BGMR, and made one of two free throws to help Crookston to get out 13-9. Then it was Perreault’s turn on the receiving end of a pick and roll and a layup, drove strong to the basket, which she made, plus a free throw, plus a couple more baskets in close. Abby Borowicz also contributed during this time with a free throw line jumper and a big three that ended a Crookston 10-0 run and in a five-minute span it was a 13-2 run to give Crookston a 23-11 lead. “This is how we set out to play and were pleased that we got into our style as the first half wore on,” said Crookston head coach Darin Zimmerman. Then it was trading baskets the last three and a half minutes with Perreault adding two more, Osborn with a basketball plus one free throw, and the Pirates led 30-20 at halftime with sophomore point guard Halle Winjum, who had 27 points, 20 in the second half on Tuesday against Stephen-Argyle was hounded the first half and only had two free throws!! “At half time, believe it or not, we discussed fouling and how we needed to be better in that area. That and we needed to rebound better and have better ball movement within the offense,” said Zimmerman.

Crookston was able to build up a 37-28 lead in the first five minutes of the second half with Perreault doing her thing inside again with a couple of baskets on another nice pick and roll and with  13 and a half minutes left in the game, Halle Winjum scored her first and only field goal of the game on a nice drive through the lane and layup. Borowicz contributed again with an eight-foot jumper. “In that span, it was good space and unselfish play,” said Zimmerman, “Ally set up some good ball screens and Halle made the right read to give them the ball.” Badger-Greenbush-Middle River didn’t have a lot of success in the first half trying to jam the ball down low and doing a double pass in the paint for easy baskets. That changed a bit in the second half as they continued trying it and finding more success, then it opened up the outside and they hit a few jumpers and then a big three-point shot that gave the Gators a 39-27 lead, their first since it was 2-0 to start the game! During this time Halle Winjum picked up her fourth foul of the game with 11 minutes to go and she was taken out of the game. She sat for about four and a half minutes and the Gators stormed back with a 13-0 run (9-0 with Winjum out). “Halle really had an uncharacteristic night,” said coach Zimmerman, “she got called for some reach-ins, and that hurt. She struggled to get into the floor of the game. We are a lot better with her on the floor and her leaving with that fourth foul hurt.” Also during this time, the Pirates were playing a little lackadaisical and twice in a row had the ball stolen away from behind as they were heading up court. Pirate coach Zimmerman called a quick time out. “We tried to reset and make sure we knew what we were doing offensively but we discussed the wolf or trailing defender and we needed to be more aware of that.”
With just over three minutes to go in the game, Hayden Winjum fouled out with the Pirates trailing 45-42. Borowicz made two free throws to pull the Pirates within 45-44. Perreault fouled out with just under three minutes to go in regulation and B-G-MR made both free throws off Perreault’s foul and the Gators led 47-44. Borowicz fouled out with 1:53 to go in the game and that was three starters fouling out in a 1:18 time. BGMR missed a couple of free throws and the Pirates Osborn came back with a runner down the lane to make it 47-46  the Gators leading. After a BGMR miss, Osborn came down the lane again and seeing she was going to be fouled just slung up a shot with her back to the basket, drew that foul to shoot two. She made one to tie the game at 47-47 with 52.4 seconds left. The Gators took time off the clock, whittling down to 29.5 seconds, and missed and the Pirates came down for a final shot and Halle Winjum’s throw-up hit the rim but did not go in and the two teams were headed for overtime. “We had a chance to win in regulation,” said Zimmerman, “We had the ball in Halle’s hands and elected not to call a timeout and let her go. Thinking back, we could have called one because of where the clock was placed in the gym it was extremely difficult for her to see the clock. So, that one is on me, but I credit our bench for stepping up, making some plays, and getting us to overtime. But we had a lot of offensive firepower on the bench. We need to stay out of foul trouble.” It was to be Crookston’s first overtime game this season while the Gators were 1-0 in overtime this season.

The overtime couldn’t have started out any worse, as Halle Winjum picked up her fifth foul just 20 seconds into the overtime which is four minutes long! BGMR made both free throws off the Winjum foul and took the lead 49-47. Osborn hit another runner down the lane to tie the game at 49-49 with two minutes left in OT only a few seconds later have the Gators steal an inbounds pass, score a basket and made the plus one free throw, and the three-point play put Badger-Greenbush-Middle River up 52-49. The Gators missed a couple of free throws while the Pirates senior Madison Hoiland made two of four free throws while B-G-MR had another back door play underneath to maintain a 54-51 lead with 39.4 seconds left. The Pirates missed a couple of shots, B-G-MR missed three of four free throws but held on to the 55-51 win before the excited home crowd. “Overall it was a tough loss for us, for sure,” said Zimmerman, “Badger-Greenbush-Middle River has a nice team and outplayed us in key moments. We will learn from this game and grow from it.” The first time the Pirates played B-G-MR this year it was a 21 point win in Crookston near the end of January!

Crookston is 21-4 on the year and has one game left of the regular season and that is tomorrow night at Breckenridge. The Pirates will be either the number two or three seed for the Section 8AA Tournament as they are battling Perham for those two seeds behind Fergus Falls who should be the one seed. Badger-Greenbush-Middle River was led by freshman Kenzie Dahl who scored 20 points, ALL in the second half and overtime as the Gators improved to 20-5 with their third win this week and ninth in a row. The win COULD put B-G-MR as the number one seed in the West Sub-Section of Section 8A who seed on Saturday.